On 1/4/2018 12:36 PM, valdis.kletnieks@vt.edu wrote:
On Thu, 04 Jan 2018 09:48:24 -0700, Michael Crapse said:
I've never dealt with a support queue that resolved the issue faster than a direct contact. Which would the user prefer - a guaranteed 15 minute response time from the queue, or 10 minute from a direct contact, unless it's an hour because they're in a meeting, or the next day because they're out sick, or 2 weeks because they're on vacation?
Bonus points for recognizing there's a confirmation bias effect here - people will remember the 2 week response time more than they'll remember the 5 minutes faster the rest of the time.
Hint: How many "I haven't heard back in a week" do we see here and on the mailop list, and how many "Congrats to so-n-so who fixed my problem in 5 minutes flat?"
Also, unless the requester already has a close relationship with someone in that department at the company they are contacting - it is sort of offensive to contact them without FIRST filling out the form and allotting a reasonable time for a response. Then, if filling out the form didn't work as fast as expected - THEN it might be appropriate to contact someone directly to help escalate the form submission. That is the RIGHT way to do these things. The opposite of this produces insufficiency, miscommunication, legal entanglements (if things didn't get handled properly), lost audit-trails/metrics etc. Some larger companies FORBID their employees from doing such direct help that is entirely outside their regular support system. -- Rob McEwen